A hacker who hires out for legal cracking jobs, snooping for
factions in corporate political fights, lawyers pursuing privacy-rights and
First Amendment cases, and other parties with legitimate reasons to need an
electronic locksmith. In 1991, mainstream media reported the existence of
a loose-knit culture of samurai that meets electronically on BBS systems,
mostly bright teenagers with personal micros; they have modeled themselves
explicitly on the historical samurai of Japan and on the “net
cowboys” of William Gibson's cyberpunk
novels. Those interviewed claim to adhere to a rigid ethic of loyalty to
their employers and to disdain the vandalism and theft practiced by
criminal crackers as beneath them and contrary to the hacker ethic; some
quote Miyamoto Musashi's Book of Five Rings, a
classic of historical samurai doctrine, in support of these principles.
See also sneaker, Stupids,
social engineering, cracker,
hacker ethic, and
dark-side hacker.